Just got a beretta

[beretta]

ok talked to the previous owner today and he said that it was a 3.1 block....my bad lol like i said earlier i dont know much if anything about domestics....going to the junkyard tomorrow so wish me luck....needs a new hood! btw what body parts fit on the 88 from other berettas? i see alot better body styles on the other berettas. the 88 body style just looks crappy as hell. As for my plans for the car...i plan on doing a turbo upgrade as suggested b4....and also replacing the dash along with some other parts...seats, harness's, harness bar or roll bar btw i happened across the ad on craigslist that i found to purchase the car, but for some reason when i try to post the link it thinks im spamming or something? l got it for 900 and he showed receipts for all work.....so did i get a good deal? and i dont mind a lil thread jacking....its not like im in the middle of a swap write up or anything. besides ill take all the info i can get on these things

87-96 Beretta ALL have the same body.. only difference is the bumpers and ground effects for appearance between, base/GT/GTU/GTZ/Z26 Indy

[DTMAce]

Pretty much any body parts from any year will mount on any year. Only major differences are the trims and the ground effects, some of the bumper styles, but they can still be swapped around.

[Money pit Beretta]

Well the 3.1 is a stroked 2.8, but not by much as you can tell. That I know of the 2.8 heads are the same as the 3.1.
What all did he do to it? Control arm bushings and other things go along way. Over all that is not a bad price. Is that a new engine or a used one?
A compression check would be nice. Just to see the health of the engine.
If you are messing around don't hit over 5k in the RPM's, there is no power up there anyway. You would just be putting a strain on on the parts.

GTU89 I don't think I'd go over 7psi. These engines were built for NA. Really not more than 5psi to be safe.

[blkfloyd]

thanks Money pit and to all the others your advice is epic. @Money yea my 300z is an N/A to Turbo Swap (only runnin 6psi) and im pretty happy with it cant wait to do a sr swap on it but thats for another thread in another forum lol....im not complaining (well other than the butchering of the stock radio harness) but thats just a craftsmanship pissing contest type thing. The engine is running tip top shape No ticks, No knocks and the oil is so clean its almost clear. It does have a lil power past 5 grand but i havent run her too hard considering that it only has 120 miles on the "rebuilt" not "new" motor. let her break in a lil. i did run it a lil hard for a sec to see what she would do but nothing serious. havent taken her above 60mph. The instrument cluster seems to have a short in the lights, The check engine light is on due to the Air conditioning system removal. The turn signal switch on the column needs replaced (it wont even pull back for the high beams) Something is up with the turn signals because they will light but not blink (this is happening on both sides) i cant see both bulbs being blown out but its possible , i bought a flasher unit for under the column but havent installed yet, i also plan on finding a different body style and switching over and did i mention that the headlights need adjusted? also there was not any stereo system what so ever in the car when i purchased it ( no speakers no head unit) the wires are all still there (i think) so ima check that out in the am as well. The brakes are kinda wierd (feels like a tick or something when i hit them) maybe abs? btw im super easy on brakes so its not from hitting to hard i have also installed ram air (there was no air intake at all when i got it) for some reason he thought this was better, somehow i dont see how sucking trash through your maf is good for your car. If you guys have any suggestions what so ever im all ears many props you have been a huge help already and if i need to be posting this in another thread then by all means let me know

[DTMAce]

Your high/low beam switch is separate from the turns. 99 percent of the time the switch is out of adjustment, that's all. Needs to be tightened then it works fine.
As for the turns however, you may want to check for two things:

If the 1157 bulbs have been replaced with LED bulbs. (6 total)
That the flasher is working properly, or needs replacing. I see you did buy one.

As for the ABS. May have to examine the front sensors. There is a ring gear on the outer portion of the axle and a sensor mounted on the knuckle. Make sure the gears have all their teeth and that the sensor and gear are free of metallic dust. Also reseat the connectors. The rear ABS sensors are inside the wheel bearing mount, so they usually do not go bad, but ya never know.

[GTZfan]

1988 Beretta did not originally have ABS, it was stdrd from 1992. I never heard of sbd to install it on an older car, eventhough it could have possibly been done?!

[Money pit Beretta]

Good to hear that you are taking it easy on that rebuilt engine. I wouldn't push it until after 1k.
Now I got to ask...how is the underside of the car? Check the rear by the axle and the springs. These cars rust there bad.
Did you get a CAI? If you want one there is a guy that makes them here just for these cars.

[blkfloyd]

yea i got a cold air intake. I installed it immediately. Well lets get to the bad stuff that i found today. 1) i was parked at the store for a moment to let my girl run in and get a drink. she comes out and says "hey you got something leaking under your passenger side door!" after a brief inspection i had discovered that the lines going to the back brakes had been cut and he looped it back around using FUEL LINE !!!!! 2) on a better note i made it to the junk yard today and found all of my my parts that i wanted but a decent hood (there was one hood there but it had a pretty big titty sticking out where someone had slammed it down on the drivers side strut bolt) i found 5 z24's there:) and the guy will give me both bumper covers and the side skirts along with the hood for 175 as long as i pull it off myself. I also found a dash that i wanted out of the 94 but the headlights are on the side of the instrument cluster and the turnsignal switch is diff. Could i switch dash's? Is there a tutorial here for that? ive looked but not seeming to find anything. Just so you guys know i went out and bought the proper brake line and compression fittings to make the loop. Gonna install it tomorrow and bleed the brakes. I really wish the guy woulda told me about the brake line being looped like that it wouldnt have changed my mind at all. just something that could possibly kill someone is def need to know info! i personally could not knowingly sell someone a car like that without telling them. oh one more thing...that nipple sticking out that hood do you guys think i could just cut it out and maybe put a hood vent over it? i was gonna get hood pins anyway. so i would be cutting and drilling on it anyway. Back to the dash....im thinking i will only need the dash and the harness that goes to it? or will i need the venting as well?

[blkfloyd]

i did forget to mention that it has an extremely rough idle, Maybe the crap battery causing it? and it smokes a lil bit till it g. ets warmed up. looks like a carbon build up or something. a lil bit of background on the rough idle is that the cat was cut out and a flex pipe put in place by the previous owner. maybe a oxygen sensor? idk seems to run like a champ when going down the road but sounds like a dragster while idling. the rpms kinda jumps up and down a bit as well but only at idle. I believe the smoke at startup is actually steam from condensation in the exhaust (it is indiana and winter so it freezes at night)

[Money pit Beretta]

Wow that's a little freaky. Not a good time of year to get a car, makes it hard to get under and look around.
Yes you can change the dash, but you also have to change the door panels.

Sounds like it's time for the always fun checking for vacuum leaks.

[scd88ga]

I think you should just fix what the car needs and drive it before worrying about mods... Fix the brakes the right way, don't loop it...

[blkfloyd]

i have looped many braking systems in my time.....(however i did not use rubber hose to do so) a looped braking system is fine for older model cars (w/o abs) even when it started leaking there was no difference and if my gf had not recognized it then i would have never known until i crashed (thank god i didnt).....the small tick while braking was more than likely air getting in the line from the leaking rubber hose. I also do not have the time to be re-doing back brake lines.... i have purchased new pads and rotors today. Im not worried about the mods at this point in time however i do want to put on the body parts that i wanted (this will help with the rust situation along the side skirt areas). I inspected the back of the car near the strut/shock towers and it appeared to have small amount of rust but nothing that would be too bad. i need to install an emergency brake cable. At this point im just trying to get it back on the road...looking half ass decent and safer than before.....this summer i will be switching the back brakes to disc brakes instead of drum style and thats when ill rerun the brake lines to the back. i also found the dash swap tutorial on here and i didnt see anything about switching door panels but maybe i missed it? That will def be a weekend job for another time (lots of wire matching and splicing). As far as the idle goes: i didnt see any cracked,broken,worn vacuum lines and the guy did say that he replaced all of the vacuum lines and to my surprise they were all brand new so that being said im thinking maybe TPS? or when my gf ran it out of gas it could be the fuel filter lol i purchased a filter today and going to get a new battery tomorrow (found out that mine had a dead cell) i believe this guy did all the motor work that needed done but skipped out on the other tune up work (brakes, air filter, e-brake line) what i essentially got was a shitty car with a damn good motor. which is fine with me for the price. (seeing as i love and live to work on cars) This car just needs some good TLC and we should be in business. This car seems pretty easy to work on (except for the fact that i dont like the fact that torx bolts were used for the brake calipers lol) but beggars cant be choosers i dont think. You are right i should just run the brake lines but my gf's car has a pretty bad motor knock (bad bearings) and its not likely that car will last till the end of the week so im cramped for time. If i had the time i would def run them but this thing has to be back on the road by tomorrow afternoon and me being garage poor im having to settle for laying on my back in the wet snow to get stuff done and ill tell you now that it sucks the big one. So ima wait till it warms up and dries up before i attempt the back brake line run. I know what you all are thinking too "why doesnt he let her drive his 300 turbo?" and if you saw my ol' lady drive you would know why. she is the only person i know that gets in the drivers seat and does everything but drive "talkin on cell phone, makeup, looking out in space, fumbling through the console while not looking at the road ect. ect. ect. i let her drive my 300 once and she scraped all 4 rims! idk how i dont wanna know how, all i know is i had to sell the factory rims for aluminum scrap and buy some american racing rims (250 bucks). i told her that if she messes up this car then the next thing she is getting to drive will be a tank and she would have to pay for it.

[Money pit Beretta]

SOB that was a hell of an edit. Feel lucky that there is not much rust in the rear. Yeah there is no way that you can put a newer dash on an older car without changing the door panles. That should have been in there. The door panels will get crushed when you shut the door.
No the TPS will not do that. The vacuum lines also control the HVAC and there still could be a leak there. But if the idle goes up and down and it stalls sometimes then there EVAC problem. You didn't say anything about stalling, so you are ok there. Could be leaking intake gaskets. I'd look to the upper first.
Watch that running out of gas, that pump is cooled by the gas and an old pump can die.
Time to teach her how to respect a car man. Start with having her help you work on it. Then go on from there. Let me tell you this is not a gender thing that is for sure! Everyone thinks that it is just a car until they have to do some work on it themselves. Hands on is what counts.

Damn I use to know how to write and now I see that is gone. Choppy crap and mindless. Going to post it anyway. Just burned out and tired of the fight.

[blkfloyd]

[quote=Damn I use to know how to write and now I see that is gone. Choppy crap and mindless. Going to post it anyway. Just burned out and tired of the fight.[/quote]

i spill my guts on the forums. its good for you to get it all out every once in a while. well a bowl here and there when that FREAKIN bolt just wont come out is a big help too. but most of all even in your so called "mindless choppy crap" is quite useful such as " Yeah there is no way that you can put a newer dash on an older car without changing the door panles. That should have been in there. The door panels will get crushed when you shut the door. " really helps with the visual aspect of the job. its the lil comments like that which makes the job possible ( atleast a lil easier understanding anyway)

[Money pit Beretta]

Yeah I guess that the info is all that matters.